May 22, 2023 With the Tacoma living in Las Vegas now, it's harder to perform various maintenance tasks as they pop up and between trips. As such, with a few general maintenance issues - oil changes, tire rotations, etc. - and a few items in recent Rig Reviews needing attention,…
10 CommentsMods and Maintenance: Suspension | Front
September 1, 2022. Note: There is an important update below. It was more than three years and 120K miles ago that I installed SPC UCAs on the Tacoma. Shortly after installation, SPC came out with an improved design that was a single forged piece of material, with an entirely new…
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October 16, 2021. It's been nearly three years since I installed my ADS suspension on all four corners of the Tacoma. I did the rears first - twice, actually - relocating them for more travel. The fronts were installed not long after, and of course I've been battling the spherical…
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TL;DR - All the new bushings I installed recently seem to be doing great. It was a bunch of work, but replacing the LCA bushings, front diff bushings, steering rack bushings, and front bump stops (see Replacing All the Bushings) was definitely worth it. My alignment with the new LCA…
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TL;DR - The stainless steel bushings seem to be doing a bit better, but I'm not ready to say that they are the right way to go. Yet. So far, I have just over 16K miles on the FKSSX10T-F1 spherical bearings. The passenger side is still "OK," driver side is…
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Squeaky bushings annoy a lot of people. I am not one of those people. And so, as my bushings have squeaked over the years, I've just let them do their thing - usually until I next wash the truck at which point the squeaking stops. And so, my bushings have…
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I've replaced the spherical bearings on my ADS coilovers several times now. I only really mentioned it the first and second times, but its become regular maintenance every 10,000 miles or so - generally about 3-4 trips and ~2 oil changes. I chalked it up to normal maintenance required on…
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TL;DR - I'm trying something new. I've installed stainless steel spherical bearings this time, hopefully to prolong their life. So, for anyone following along, my spherical bearings have been an ongoing issue. I've replaced them again, this time with stainless steel versions from FK. Specifically with FKSSX10T-F1 bearings. Time will…
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I've done a lot of work to the suspension on the Tacoma - with good reason since it is what helps to make our trips more comfortable, and what helps to isolate most of the truck from the harsh terrain over which we travel. In doing that work, one of…
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TL;DR - The spherical bearings were completely shot again. And, it happened after only 10,000 miles this time. I've replaced the spherical bearings several times now, so I'm getting good at it. This time, though they lasted 4 months and 5 trips, they lasted only 10,000 miles. I'd taken a…
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TL;DR - why didn't I install limit straps earlier. These things make the suspension so much more enjoyable. After the trip to Colorado, I installed some Kartek limit straps, to protect my shock towers from the enormous changes in force I knew they were experiencing when my suspension fully unloaded…
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TL;DR - I need limit straps to prevent the shocks from over-extending, which can lead to shock tower failure. Ever since I installed the ADS Coilovers, I've liked them. They've been higher maintenance than previous setups I've used, but their performance has outweighed that maintenance in my opinion. One of…
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TL;DR - The spherical bearings are doing OK, but I think that's temporary. With a new set of spherical bearings from ADS installed just before the first Owyhee trip, the bearings seemed to do just fine through the two trips. However, after chatting with a few folks, I'm convinced that…
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It seems like just a few weeks ago that I replaced the spherical bearings on my ADS coilovers for the first time, though it turns out, it was actually a few (4) months ago. Prior to that, I'd put some 27K miles on the new ADS suspension (see installation) -…
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TL;DR - I think I need to replace the spherical bearings again. Already. They are squeaky and I've only put 14K miles on the new set. From the moment we set out on this trip, I could hear the front suspension. In the past, I've thought this might be the…
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Today was going to be an easy day working on the truck. I knew what I had to do and it wasn't hard. I'd gathered the parts I needed - twice really, since the first time I tried to do this work, I found that I needed some additional bits…
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TL;DR - Replacing the spherical bearings, misalignment spacers, and lower shock bolts is done and things are working correctly as far as I can tell. Not much to say about this one beyond the write-up I did about the install of the new spherical bearings and related components. Tyler at…
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TL;DR - it's been about a year and my spherical bearings are getting squeaky; time to replace them. My understanding is that these are COM10T bearings and that I can just look around on the internet and find the cheapest seller. Ugh, a plan like that always worries me a little…
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TL;DR - Moving the resis to the top of the frame means there is no more rubbing and I have my turning radius back. It was many months ago that my tires started rubbing on the ADS reservoirs that I'd attached to the frame in the front wheel wells. This…
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April 2, 2019. I like to think that I live and learn. I'm also a creature of habit, and I wonder if I'm starting down the same road I've been down before. See, with the Tacoma, I thought long and hard about the first set of aftermarket suspension that I put…
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